Winter in Bodrum brings seas of green leaved trees spotted with varying shades and sizes of orange dots. The road sides are dotted with makeshift sales stands as people try and sell the bumper harvests from their land or gardens to passers-by.

The market stalls are predominantly a bright cheerful orange, with wafts of citrus in the air.From the nearby gardens along Camel Beach, Turquoise Ekim collected three different types of mandalins:

Peel the mandarins, remove excess pith and julienne as thinly as possible. Do the same with lemon. Boil peel in water for 10 mins, rinse and repeat 3 times to remove bitterness. Put peel and juice of all mandarins together with peeled, finely diced ginger and sugar – make liquıd up to 2 litres by adding water to the juice. Bring to the boil and then simmer for one hour or until the marmalade sets when a teaspoon is poured onto a cool plate. Enjoy the zesty zing!There’s even a mandalin jam contest taking place on the Bodrum peninsula on 15 February, 2014.

Also known as karavella, bitter melon is used by local Turks for various stomach and intestinal disorders including ulcers, colitis, constipation, and intestinal worms. It is also used for diabetes, kidney stones, fever, psoriasis, and liver disease. Taken orally, it truly is bitter tasting though some Indian and Chinese recipes attempt to disguise the flavor with heavy spices, and the truly queasy can take it in a powder form. When applied topically, bitter gourd is preserved in an olive oil solution and is available from the local Friday farmer’s market. Check it off on your provisioning preferences and we’ll have some on board for you.